Two familiar faces graced the top step of the podium at South Africa’s time trial national championships Thursday, with Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Daryl Impey winning the women’s and men’s elite titles, respectively.
A national champion in 2015, 2014, and 2013, Moolman-Pasio was not slowed down by a hip fracture suffered in October while racing another time trial.
“It’s awesome to win the title back. I actually haven’t really been on the TT bike after the injury last year, and I just realized how at home I feel on the TT bike. It’s one of the reasons I joined Cervelo – Bigla because of the amazing partners we have and the focus on the TT,” Moolman-Pasio said. She beat Juanita Venter by more than three minutes on the 27.1km course in Wellington. Brittany Peterson was third.
With his sixth national time trial title, Impey set a new record in South Africa, surpassing David George’s record of five national TT championships. The Orica – Scott rider was 1:57 faster than Willie Smit on the 39.8km course. Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg was third.
“I thought Reinardt [Janse Van Rensburg] would be the second best guy but Willem Smit was obviously also having a very good day, and once I knew I was putting that amount of time into Reinardt I knew I was quite safe,” said Impey. “It’s not normal you put that amount of time into other guys but I had a really good day today and it was a course that really suited me.”
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